By the time I reach Curtis, he’s stepping toward Tanner.

When Tanner looks up, Curtis throws a fist right across his eye. “You son of a bitch. You did that on purpose.”

“The hell I did!” Tanner yells back, wincing and squinting his eyes from the punch.

“You’re not the king everyone thinks you are. Oh, I give my time to this charity, and I really am honored to be considered for the Olympics,” Curtis imitates Tanner’s latest interview that just aired on ESPN the other night.

“At least I earn what I get. I’m not begging for my dad’s scraps!” Tanner hollers back.

Curtis’s arm rises again, and he flies toward Tanner. This time though, Tanner stops it and then slams his fist into Curtis’s stomach.

Curtis bends over, and I’m about to go out there when Dylan grabs my hand. When I look his way, he shakes his head.

“Let them handle this,” he murmurs.

“Work? You don’t know the meaning of it. You swim in a damn pool every day. How hard is that?”

Gasps fumble around and I notice everyone coming out from the backyard, circling around.

“You’re fucking kidding me, right? Do you want to see my schedule? ’Cause let me give you a hint.” Tanner leans in close to Curtis. “It doesn’t include lunch at Tru.”

He cocks his head, and his friends laugh. Tru is one of the top restaurants in the city, and Curtis has taken me there twice for lunch, so the irony must ring home.

“Don’t be too jealous,” Curtis spouts.

Tanner glances to me before setting his sights back on Curtis.

“Jealous? Why the hell would I be jealous of you?” Tanner laughs and shakes his head.

“Because I have the girl.”

“Oh,” emerges from the crowd. I swear you’d think we were in high school the way this is all going down and no one is doing anything—including my parents.

Dylan lets go of my hand. “Shit, this isn’t going to end well,” Dylan says next to me, crossing his arms.

Tanner hesitates, and Curtis shakes his head.

“What’s that I hear? Nothing. I thought so.” Curtis pretends to hold his hand to his ear.

If I were a mean-spirited person, I’d silently give Tanner permission to tell Curtis, but I can’t. That would be embarrassing, and Curtis doesn’t deserve for Tanner to make a fool of him in front of all these people.

“Yeah, I’m not blind. I see how much you want to fuck her, Tanner. So, it must kill you that I was inside of her last night.”

Tanner’s face flies to mine with questions in his eyes. I’m just as surprised by Curtis’s words, so I fail to react right away, which gives Tanner the wrong impression.

He takes one step toward Curtis and swings his fist, and Curtis falls to the ground. Still awestruck from what Curtis said, I stand there like an idiot while the two of them wrestle on the cement.

“Piper, is it true?” Dylan whispers.

I shake my head. “No.” Then, I cock my head toward Dylan, wondering why he would question that. How much does he know?

“Yeah, Tanner told me everything. Brothers.” He shrugs so nonchalantly.

Tanner straddles Curtis, throwing another punch to his face.

“Stop!” I scream, running over to them. When my hand yanks on Tanner’s arm, he stops, and the hurt is flooding his eyes. I silently move my head side to side, and he climbs off of Curtis, my hand still on his arm.

Curtis crawls backward and then rises to his feet.

“Why are you lying?” I ask him.

His hand gently touches his skin from how painful the punches were. His eyes divert to my hands on Tanner and then back to my face. “It was a test, and you both fucking failed. How long have you been screwing him behind my back?” He spits a glob of blood on the ground.

“I haven’t.” It’s understandable that he’s confused by all of this, but to think I would deceive him places me in a whole other category.

“Whatever. Keep lying to yourself.”

Stepping forward, I release Tanner’s arm. “I swear to you, Curtis, I haven’t done anything.”

“Really?”

I see the hope in his eyes, and I bite my lip because I still need to end it with him.

“Why don’t you just tell her the real truth about why you started dating her?” Tanner announces from behind me.

My head flips backwards because it sounds as if Tanner has another secret he’s kept from me.

“Give it a rest, McCain.” Curtis says from behind me.

“Wait.” I hold up my hand. “What am I missing?” I look between both of them.

Tanner crosses his arms and widens his stance. “Rich boy has known who you were the whole time. Haven’t you?”

He nods in Curtis’s direction, and Curtis’s lips purse.

“I don’t understand.” My stomach clenches with the realization that another man in my life has lied to me, that he wasn’t who I thought he was.

“He knew our connection before he asked you out. He was using you to get to me. He and his daddy wanted to sign me.”

My blood boils, and my hands clench at my sides.

“When you asked me for my number, you knew I was friends with Tanner?” I step forward.

Curtis nods. My fingernails dig into my palms.

“I knew you were his next door neighbor and that he and Brad were best friends, but then . . . Piper, my heart fell for you, and I didn’t care whether we signed him or not. I just wanted you.”

He reaches for my hands, but I take a step back, bumping into Tanner’s chest.

Spinning around, I narrow my eyes at him. “How could you not tell me?”

He places his hands on my cheeks, and I allow him to hold me.

“I refused to win by default. I had to make sure I was still in your heart. I didn’t want you to come running to me just because he used you.” His soft eyes and fixated gaze are clear signs he’s telling me the truth.

I release a breath. “You do understand that I love you? I always have,” I admit, placing my hands on top of his.

He inches forward. “I know. I’m sorry. I should have told you.”

I nod, forgiving him because it doesn’t matter anymore. I won’t allow anything to separate us from this point forward.

“Oh, how sweet,” Curtis sneers from behind me.

I spin around. “You can leave now.”

I cross my arms over my chest, and Curtis steps up to me.

“You’re going to pick him over me?” His eyes try to dig into mine, but all they find is the anger that’s rising inside of me.

“It was never a choice. I’m sorry, Curtis. I’ve always been meant to be with Tanner. Maybe you should have done better research before seeking me out.”

He shakes his head. “You both deserve each other.” Then, he turns around, walking down the driveway. “One day, Piper, you’ll regret this decision,” he calls out.

Watching his back walk down my parent’s driveway, I only feel relief that our relationship is over.

“You okay?” Tanner comes alongside me, his hand resting on the small of my back.

When my face lifts to see him, I’m taken back from the blood trickling down his face. “Shit, Tan.”

I place my hand on his swollen eye, but he shakes his head.

“I’m good.” He smiles, wiping the blood off with his T-shirt.

Dylan joins us, smacking Tanner’s back. “You got him. I’d say you won the fight.” He winks my way and then walks to the back of the house.

“Thanks, man.” His hand holds my hip firm, and he positions me in front of him. He cups my face with his palms. “I swear to you, I didn’t want it to go down like that.”

I cock my head to the side, and Tanner laughs. We both know that’s not entirely true.

“Well, it felt good to hit him. I’m not going to deny that.” His hands slide down to my shoulders, and he pulls me into him. “I’m sorry, Piper,” he softly says. He kisses the top of my head.

Allowing the sheltered feeling of Tanner’s arms wrap around me with no guilt because of Curtis is something I’ve craved since he returned. To be honest, I’ve wanted this for longer, probably since the day I left him on that bed two years ago.